Psychiatrist Testifies: Reiser May Have Asperger’s Syndrome

OAKLAND, California — A day after the Hans Reiser murder trial drifted into the netherworld, the murder case against the Linux programmer careened Thursday into the world of psychiatry.

Defense witness and psychiatrist Beverly Parr, on the stand for the second day, testified that those who use a computer regularly "possibly" might have Asperger’s syndrome. Those diagnosed with this disorder have impaired social skills.

"His activities were restricted to the computer more than I would expect," testified Parr, a family friend of the Reisers.

"What you’re saying, you found his work on the computer matched one of the diagnostic features of Asperger’s?" prosecutor Paul Hora asked on cross examination.

"Possibly."

Hans Reiser, 44, is on trial facing accusations he killed his wife, Nina Reiser, in 2006. The 31-year-old woman vanished after she dropped off the divorcing couple’s two young children to Hans Reiser’ house in the Oakland hills for the Labor Day weekend. The authorities said she never left the house alive.

The defense claims the woman abandoned her two young children, now 6 and 8, and moved back to Russia, where the couple met in 1998 when the defendant often traveled to Russia to work on his open source software for his Oakland-based company Namesys.

Defense attorney William DuBois called Parr in a bid to portray the defendant as a strange person, somebody not acting under a guilty conscious following his wife’s disappearance.

Parr began testifying late Wednesday. She followed hours-long testimony from Ramon Reiser, the defendant’s father who took jurors, the gallery, the lawyers and the judge on a roller-coaster ride as they tried to follow his disjointed answers.

Still, prosecutor Hora took the time to use Parr as a punching bag as the discourse wafted into the surreal.

Hora: "I asked you if somebody who has Asperger’s can exercise free will. I didn’t understand your answer. Can they?"

(They are discussing free will because Hora wants to know whether somebody with Asperger’s Disorder knows right from wrong, and can premeditate murder and kill. On Wednesday, Parr testified in the affirmative.)

Parr: "I didn’t understand your question. Can you be more specific about what you mean by free will?"

Hora: "The concept of free will, do you understand that?"

Parr: "No I don’t."

"Do you believe people have free will of choice?" Hora continued.

"Can you be more specific," Parr replied.

"Do you believe in personal responsibility?" the prosecutor continued.

"I’m not able to answer this question for all of psychiatry….I don’t know how to precisely answer that question. Some people (pause) I need to defer that question to an expert."

Hora again asked: "Are there psychiatrists that specialize in free will?"

Parr responded: "I don’t necessary, probably. I don’t know. That, probably wasn’t referring to specializing in free will. The answer to your question is just a plain I don’t know."

"There is some personal responsibility we attach to individuals?" Hora asked.

DuBois interjected: "Your honor, this is way beyond the scope of her testimony."

Goodman asked Hora to "narrow it down."

"I’m not an authority on Asperger’s," Parr said.

Still, she testified that Hans Reiser might have Asperger’s Disorder. She recalled an early 2006 telephone call with Hans Reiser:

"And Hans answered the phone. And rather than have a normal conversation, he went into details into the financial impact of the divorce and I listened and he continued on and on," she said.

She continued: "He was trying to figure out why the judge was making his decisions in the case and he continued on and on. I was in the dog park trying to get off the line. I was trying to protect myself from multiple dogs that were running around me. He did all of the talking, as I recall."

Parr added that the conversation "was almost as though it was too theoretical. He wasn’t upset. He was neutral, he was trying to categorize, figure out just what the judge was thinking in the decisions regarding the finances."

Then Parr recounted a recent conversation she had with the defendant in jail. She recalled they were discussing cooking "and he went on and on."

"It wasn’t reciprocal. It went on probably until the end of visiting hour," she said.

She added that Asperger’s Disorder might be running rampant.

"I wouldn’t be surprised if so many adults have it but have not been diagnosed."

Testimony is continuing.

UPDATE

After a brief recess, defense attorney DuBois began re-examining Parr, who was the fourth defense witness.

DuBois asked whether somebody with a trait of such a disorder is one who "exaggerates achievements and talents and expects to be realized as superior without commensurate achievements?"

"Does Hans Reiser have world famous achievements to his credit," DuBois added, referring to Hans Reiser’s open source file system known as the ReiserFS.

"Yes."

"Isn’t that a distinction in his life from the description and criteria of Narcissistic Personality Disorder?" DuBois asked.

"Yes."

Jurors and even the judge were clearly becoming bored. Judge Goodman hid his face behind his hands. Many of the jurors sat slouched with their hands to their mouths. Some tried to hide their giggles behind their palms.

At the defense table, the defendant appeared engaged as he watched and listened to the battle of the dueling diagnoses. He often smiled and ping-ponged his head to the testimony. He was wearing the same dark coat he has donned every day since opening statements began here Nov. 6.

Moments later, Parr agreed with a question Hora posed, that people could have a the disorder, even if they were high achievers.

"You can step down now," Judge Goodman told the witness.

"Thank you."

Next up is Beverly Palmer, Hans Reiser’s mother. Palmer and Parr are eating lunch together outside the courtroom.